How to Use Social Media to Hire for Free!

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Hiring isn’t all job boards and referrals anymore. More and more, companies are finding innovative ways to find new hires. One of those ways is through social media. In fact, J.P. Morgan recently made the news when they used Snapchat to hire summer interns. While the idea of hiring through some social media platforms might elicit a good belly laugh, it is a great tactic. Why?

Posting a job opening on your social media accounts guarantees a reach to a more engaged, interested and informed audience. Your social media followers are already familiar with at least a part of your business’ journey, your culture, and your goals.

Sure, you could fork out some cash to target Facebook Ads and Twitter cards to specific audiences. However, there are also great free ways to utilize four popular social media platforms for your hiring needs.

Hiring with Facebook

A recent study shows that Facebook is the most-used platform for candidates researching the culture and fit of a company. This is important to keep in mind not just during hiring season but year-round. Is there an annual group event that your company holds for its employees? Take photos of it and share it on your page. Promoting this kind of community culture makes your company much more appealing to job seekers looking for an immersive and involved company culture. Your page’s content and interaction with other followers will also greatly impact a job seeker researching your company culture.

When it comes time to hire, share the link to your job opening on your company Facebook page. Those keenly interested will already be there to see it!

Hiring with Twitter

Just like Facebook, you can use Twitter to attract your own followers to a job you are looking to fill. Just tweet a link to the job posting and your fans will jump all over it!

You could also use Twitter’s search functions to find new people. Twitter, with its easy search functions, also allows you to pretty easily search for other users interested in the position. Looking for an SEO strategist? Just search the keyword and you will find plenty of SEO strategists. Check out what they tweet about, who they follow and what kind of unique insights they have. In many ways, one’s Twitter feed could serve as a sort of living, breathing and constantly-evolving resume.

Hiring with Snapchat

Snapchat is nearing the end of its “early adopter” stage. Many companies have latched on to the fun and seemingly silly platform to experiment with different types of marketing, engagement, advertising and (gasp!) even hiring.

A notable company that has used Snapchat to hire is GrubHub. They used Snapchat to hire summer interns through a fun and engaging series of snaps they posted to their story. Using a mixture of doodles, doodle contests and shortened URLs, GrubHub was able to engage their followers in a unique way and find some interns!

Hiring with Pinterest

It’s easy to think of Pinterest as a place to decorate your fantasy apartment or plan your dream wedding, but there are a ton of great ways for a company, especially a visually-focused company, to use the platform.

Much like using Facebook, a company can use Pinterest to paint a picture of what their company culture looks like. Using different boards, a company could highlight what their offices look like, share photos from their group outings and even impress by posting some of their completed projects.

Next time a job opens, consider creating a Pinterest board for the job. Here, you could add a mixture of keyword and images to really explain what the job entails. This is especially effective when recruiting for a creative position.

It is important to keep an open mind when hiring. Sometime using creative techniques find you a person your ATS system may have otherwise buzzed right by! Use social media to breathe some life (and maybe even… fun?) into your next hiring process!

Caileen is a content marketer at Proven. Caileen is a content marketer for Proven. When she is not blogging or tweeting, she likes to hit the nearest trail for a run, take her camera on a trip or curl up with a good book. Get in touch with her on Twitter @caileenisnice

Comments

Good Idea! Social media as a recruitment tool drives with some opportunities and challenges for employers. In a report of CareerBuilder, Social media postings that included ‘unique or inappropriate’ information were mentioned by 53% of HR managers as a reason to turn down an employee.

Thanks Vinay. HR and recruiting professionals need to look at all digital properties as an opportunity not only to recruit but also listen to employees and candidates. They are providing us with valuable opinions and experience information that we can use to improve our hiring and employee programs.